Israel Society & Culture:
The Histadrut

Founded in December, 1920 at the Haifa Technion, the
Histadrut was created as a trade union which would organize the
economic activities of Jewish workers. Attempts at such organization
had been made previously, but had failed due to the insistence of
certain political parties on maintaining their own services for their
own members. Realizing that the perpetuation of rival trade unions
was of course counter-productive, efforts were made to establish a
non-partisan, non-political organization. The organization would run
activities such as the consumers union, the sick fund, and the
employment exchanges. It was out of these efforts that the Histadrut
was born.

The founding members were profoundly influenced by the
Russian-Jewish socialist tradition characteristic of the second aliyah
(1904-1914). They strongly believed in the continued building and
settlement of Palestine, and were devoted to the revival of the Hebrew
language and of Jewish culture. As strict socialists, they firmly
believed that the representatives of the workers should not earn more
than the workers themselves. The opening resolutions of the first
Histadrut conference expressed their goals by stating:

It is the aim of the United Federation of all the workers and laborers of
Palestine who live by the sweat of their brows without exploiting the toil
of others, to promote land settlement, to involve itself in all economic
and cultural issues affecting labor in Palestine, and to build a Jewish
workers' society there.

In 1920, membership in the Histadrut numbered
approximately 4,400.

In 1922, 8,394 of the 16,608 workers in the country were members of
the Histadrut. 75% of immigrants arriving in the country also
became members.

The Israeli Manufacturers Association and the Histadrut narrowly avoided a private sector strike on December 3 2014, when they reached a decision to raise the minimum wage by 700 shekels per month. Histadrut officials were originally hoping for a 1,000 shekel increase. With this increase, Israeli minimum wage workers will eventually be taking home 5,000 shekels (about $1260) per month. The wage will increase in small increments from 2015-2017, with the first increase expected in April 2015. The Histadrut is working to expand this increase into the public sector as well, but that would require approval from the Finance Minister which may be complicated since Netanyahu fired Finance Minister Lapid on December 2 2014 and elections are not scheduled until March 17 2015. This increase will also not apply to individuals employed by government agencies.

The Histadrut has maintained a powerful position in Israeli
society since its inception. Its policies have been guided by its goals
of achieving full employment as well as security of tenure for its
workers. In its drive towards full employment, the Histadrut itself
became the largest employer in Israel. Its existence as employer as
well as defender of the worker makes the Histadrut the very complex
and unique organization that it is.